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Sumit SinghalSumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

City Hall of Illkirch-Graffenstaden in France by Atelier Filippini

The project consists in the renovation of the current city hall in the city of Illkirch, France, taking into account a contemporary re-interpretation of the existing facades, as well as the creation of a new entrance volume which enhances the image of the city, and communicates a modern image of this administration.

Currently, the town hall is composed of three buildings architecturally very different: one classic building from the nineteenth century and two contiguous constructions, built in the 60’s and 70’s, one coated of dark aluminium panels, the other of pre-cast concrete elements.

Image courtesy Atelier Filippini

We thought it was necessary to give a unified image to the whole intervention, respecting the quality of the building from the nineteenth century. The modern buildings have been treated with a new envelop-skin made with screen printed glass and meshes of stainless steel.

Image courtesy Atelier Filippini

The key feature of the project is the shell made with perforated stainless steel that covers the new entrance of the hall. Starting from the requirements of the program, the new volume of the entrance is designed in the lower part of the composition, not to create a full-height mass, which would be opposed to the historic building.

Image courtesy Atelier Filippini

The intention is to greet the customers, not just to impress them, and, nevertheless, to have a particular and remarkable architecture. The new skin of the building changes the colors and the reflexes whit the movement of the clouds in the sky and the people walking on the square. The new volume of the entrance hall is the central element of an architectural and formal concept otherwise rigorous and functional.

Image courtesy Atelier Filippini

The creation of double facades made with glass makes possible the recover of preheated air from the double flow ventilation system. The creation of a passive solar cooling facade, as well as other tools available today, like the recover of the rainwater to irrigate the interior garden or planted terraces and others, shows our particular attention on the subject of the bioclimatic architecture.